Embedded Systems lab virtual machine source code

This repository contains the Embedded Systems Lab VM generation scripts. The process is automated using qemu and Packer (check the requirements below).

Requirements:

• a modern Linux system;
• basic build tools (make);
• Hashicorp's Packer;
• qemu+kvm;

Preparation

Download and save a Debian 13 netinst iso image.

Copy config.sample.mk as config.local.mk and edit it to point to the directory where the downloaded .iso files are. You might also want to change TMP_DIR somewhere with 10GB free space and/or a faster drive (SSD recommended :P).

You might also want to ensure that packer and qemu are properly installed and configured.

Building the VM

The following Makefile goals are available (the build process is usually in this order):

• base: builds a base Ubuntu/Debian install (required for the VM image);
• labvm: builds the Lab VM with all required scripts and config;
• localvm: builds the Local VM projects (VMWare & VirtualBox);
• [*]_edit: easily edit an already build Lab VM (uses the previous image as backing snapshot);
• [*]_commit: commits the edited VM back to its backing image;
• [*]_clean: removes the generated image(s);
• ssh: SSH-es into a running Packer VM;

If packer complains about the output file existing, you must either manually delete the generated VM from inside TMP_DIR, or set the DELETE=1 makefile variable (but be careful):

make DELETE=1 labvm_edit

If you want to keep the install scripts at the end of the provisioning phase, set the DEBUG variable. Also check out PAUSE (it pauses packer, letting you inspect the VM inside qemu):

make PAUSE=1 DEBUG=1 labvm_edit